EDUCATION

PhD: Africology and African American Studies, Temple University, 2024
PhD Coursework: African and African American Studies (Art History Specialization), Michigan State University, Fall 2013 – Fall 2017
Graduate Certificate: Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices, Michigan State University Spring 2017
Masters of Arts: Africana Studies (Art History Specialization), University at Albany, May 2008
Graduate Coursework: Museum Studies, Southern University- New Orleans, Fall 2009 – Summer 2010
Bachelor of Arts: Studio Art and Africana Studies (Double Major), University at Albany

FELLOWSHIPS

Curatorial Fellowship, AAMP, Philadelphia; Fall 2021 – 2023
Fulbright Fellowship, Denmark; 2017-2018
Nelson Mandela Museum Fellowship; Summer – Fall, 2017
Nelson Mandela Museum Fellowship; Summer- Fall, 2014

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Lincoln University, Fall 2024 - Present
Art History I, Art History II, African American Art History, African Art History, Barnes Foundation History

Telluride Association, Summer 2024
Memorializing Blackness

Temple University, Summer 2020 - 2024
Introduction to Africology, Black Aesthetics, Representing Race, History and Significance of Race, Sports and Leisure in Society

Community College of Philadelphia, Spring 2020 
HIS 220: African American History - 1877, HiS 221 African American History 1877 - Present, BLAS 101: Intro to Black Studies African Civilizations and Culture

Youth Education Services, Spring 2019 – Fall 2019
Art Specialist developing culturally grounded art lessons for k-12 summer program
Developed college and work readiness lessons for high school students
Mentored high school students on professional development and academic success

Michigan State University, Fall 2013 - Spring 2016
Teaching Assistant, IAH 241: Philosophy of Literature 
Co-instructor, E Sankofa Africana Digital Storytelling MOOC (Mass Open Online Course)
Teaching Assistant, IAH 207: Ideas of Race and Identity
Instructor, AAAS 300: Survey of Africana Studies
Instructor, AAAS 495: Advanced Research in Africana Studies

Dillard University, Spring 2009- Spring 2013
Instructor, AWS 100: Survey of the African World
Instructor, SOW 410: Special Individual and Group Studies: Team-taught study abroad course on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Resistance and Culture in Jamaica, Department of Sociology & social Work
Instructor, FYS 101 and FYS 102: Seminar for the First Year Experience

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Executive Director, Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts, St. Croix, June 2018 – March 2019
Strengthened fiscal operations through creation and management of institutional budgets and daily budgetary guidelines 
Secured major grant funding to provide no cost educational and public programing
Created partnerships with Department of Tourism and local event promoters to increase institutional visibility resulting in increased community memberships
Developed targeted fundraising and partnership strategies resulting in increased corporate memberships
Collaborated with Department of Education and community originations to create a free culturally centered educational programing for youth

INTERNSHIP AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Assistant Archivist, Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University, Spring 2020 – Present  
Responsible for complete inventory, organization and creation of Brandywine Collection
Conducted research and created extended text labels for Blockson exhibitions
Developed finding aids for Norman Lewis, Debra Willis and Romare Bearden collections

Research Assistant, MATRIX, Michigan State University, Fall 2016- Summer 2017
Edited Malick Sidibé, Tijani Sitou and Abdourahmane Sakaly prints for MSU Archive of Malian Photography
Converted digital files for creation and preservation of a protected global digital repository

Research Assistant of African Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Spring 2016
Developed subject content for the museums IMLS Project
Researched and updated object files for the museums Kuba art collection and online catalog 
Created text labels for the Kuba art collection

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, Spring 2015
Served as a research assistant for the curatorial staff
Created detailed artist folders and assisted with development of Material Effects exhibition

Nelson Mandela Museum, Qunu, South Africa Summer 2014
Acquired new objects to build the museums gifts collection
Designed an 16 room exhibition based on Nelson Mandela’s Presidential gifts
Assisted in marketing and educational programing during Mandela Day
Created a 3D SketchUp of the Museum exhibition space

Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, La. Summer 2009
Transferred card catalogue to a digital collection management program
Assisted in collection conservation
Assisted in exhibition design

CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE 

Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America, African American Museum in Philadelphia, March 23, 2023 - March 4, 2024

Jeannette Ehlers: Raise. McKenna Museum of African American Art, April 16 – July 16, 2016
American Appetites: Transforming Food Culture. Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, April 14 – May 3, 2015

PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

Wilson, M. (forthcoming 2025). “Some of Us Chose the Sea: Ancestral Archives, Ritual Technologies and Monument Making in the Caribbean Diaspora”. International Journal of Africana Studies.

Wilson, M. (forthcoming 2024). “Ritual and (re)Memorialization: Artistic Interventions that Challenge Who and How We Remember within Colonial Contact Zones”. Unfinished Histories. Edited by Mathias Danbolt. Manchester University Press.

Wilson, M. (2018). “‘Because the Spirits’: Visualizing Connective Consciousness through Diasporic Aesthetic Imaginaries”. New Frontiers in the Study of the Global frican Diaspora: Between Uncharted Themes and Alternative Representations. Edited by Rita Kiki Edozie, Glenn Chambers and Tama Hamilton-Wray. Michigan State University Press pp. 333-356.

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

Danbolt, M. and Wilson, M. (2022). “A Monumental Challenge to Danish History.” Public Memory, Public Art: Reflections on Monuments and Memorial Art Today. Edited by Annike Enqvist, Karolina Modig, Rebecka Katz Thor, Joanna Zawieja. Art and Theory Press.

EXHIBITION CATALOGS

Wilson, M. (2024). “(re)Configuring the Caribbean Pinturesco”. La Vaughn Belle: A History of Unruly Returns. National Nordic Museum.

Wilson, M. (2018). “Diasporic Dopeness and Fahamu Pecou’s Unapologetic Self-Representation” Visible Man. Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art.

Wilson, M. (2017). “Visualizing the Possibilities of Pan-African Aesthetics through Portrait Quilts”. Ubuntutu: Quilt Life Legacies of Love and Action. Quilt Tributes to Desmond and Leah Tutu by South African and American Artists. Edited by Marsha MacDowell and Aleia Brown. Michigan State University Museum.

ART PUBLICATIONS

Imhotep Journal, Temple University, Fall 2022

Pinch Journal, University of Memphis, issue 41 volume 2, Fall 2021

Norment, N. (2019). African American Studies: The Discipline and its Dimensions. Peter Lang.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATIONS

“LaVaughn Belle: Visualizing Vocabularies of the Counter Archive.” Interviewing the Caribbean v3 N1 (Winter 2017) pp64-66.

 “Renisha McBride Killing Unjust: Community Statement.” Michigan State University State News [East Lansing] November 2013.

“Trayvon Martin: Remembering Lynching and Richard Wright’s Jim Crow Education in the 21st Century.” Tribune [New Orleans] April 2012 November 3 Volume 28

“Obama Season: Creative Political Expression or Conjuring Historical Stereotypes.” Tribune [New Orleans] March 2012 Number 2 Volume 28.

RESEARCH & PANEL PRESENTATIONS

New York University Black Portraitures Conference, “(re)Memorializing the Caribbean in Public Space: Artistic Interventions that Challenge Who and How We Remember within the Colonial Imaginary.” Venice, Italy. June 2022

Unfinished Histories: Conference on Art and coloniality, ‘“The only Christopher we Acknowledge”: Public Monuments, Collective Memory and the (De)memorialization of Coloniality.’ Copenhagen, Denmark December 2017.

National Council for Black Studies Conference, “The Biggest Middle Finger in the Most Beautiful Way”: Language, Representation and Resistance in Interpretations of Contemporary Art. Houston, TX. 2017.

National Council for Black Studies Conference, “New Frontiers in the Study of the Global African Diaspora: Between Uncharted Themes and Alternative Representations.” African and African American Studies Graduate Panel. Los Angeles, Ca. March 2015

New York University Black Portraitures Conference, “Spatial Interventions and Complex Agency within the Portraiture of Kehinde Wiley.” Florence, Italy. May 2015

National Council for Black Studies Conference, “True to the Game: Continuing the Tradition of Community Engagement and Social Responsibility in the 21st Century at Michigan State University.” African and African American Studies Graduate Panel. Miami, FL. February 2014

Trayvon Martin Effect Conference, “From Trayvon Martin to Renisha McBride: Using Teach-Ins to Discuss Race, Violence and Inspire Community Activism.” Columbia University, NY. February, 2014
Association for the Study of African American Life and History Conference, “Sculpting a ‘Sister Citizen:’ Remembering the Art and Life of Elizabeth Catlett through Melissa Harris Perry’s Examination of Black Bodies in Contemporary American Spaces.” Pittsburgh, Pa. September 2012

National Association of African American Studies, Intellectual Swagger: Re- Imaging Black Style, Liberation Pedagogy and Identity Formation within Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne Album, through the Lens of Alain Locke’s New Negro Movement.” Baton Rouge, La. February 16, 2012

Harlem Renaissance Conference, “Harlem Swagger: Re- Imaging Black Style, Liberation Pedagogy and Identity Formation within Contemporary Hip Hop Culture, through the Lens of the Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro Movement.” Paine College November 9, 2011

HBCU Faculty Development/ POD Conference, “Metacognition & Liberation Pedagogy: Teaching Students How to Learn Africana Studies in the 21st Century.” Co- presented with Dr. Sandra Mcguire, Atlanta, Ga. October 27, 2011 

National Council for Black Studies Conference, “The Life and Death of Black Studies at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” Co-panelists Dr. Alan Colon, Dr. Terry, Kershaw Cincinnati, Oh. March, 15 2011

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS

De-colonial Summer School, “Stolen Memories: Museums, Slavery and (De) Coloniality.” Seminar Conveners: Dr. Walter Mignolo and Dr. Rolondo Vazquez. Netherlands. June 30 – July 16, 2015
New York University Faculty Resource Network, “The African American Imagination.” Seminar Convener: Dr. Leslie King Hammond. New York. May 9 – 13, 2011

GUEST LECTURES AND DISCUSSION PANELS

Department of African and African American Studies, Michigan State University, March 2015 “#BLACKART: A Talkback on Black Art and Pop Culture in 2015”
Department of Urban Education, Michigan State University, October 2013 “Somewhere in America Miley Cyrus is Still Twerking: Navigating Privilege, Identity Formation and Racial Binaries through Cultural Appropriation.”
Albany State University Black Alliance, University at Albany, Spring 2013 “Lynching Obama: Violence, Visual Culture and 21st Century Political Rhetoric.”
Nursing Department, Dillard University, Fall 2013 “Criminalizing Victims: Gun Violence and Raced Based Patient Care”
Center for International Students and Study Abroad, Dillard University, Fall 2012 “Languages of Liberation: A Global Discussion on Hip Hop Activism”
Albany State University Black Alliance, University at Albany, Spring 2012 “Jay-Z and the New Negro: Deconstructing Black Consciousness in Hip Hop Popular Culture.”
Theatre 405: African American Drama, Dillard University, Spring 2011 “American Dreamin’ Deferred: Deconstructing A Raisin in the Sun through Jay-Z and Lansgton Hughes.” 

UNIVERSITY APPOINTMENTS

Chair Dillard Faculty Senate, Lyceum Committee, Fall 2012
Dillard Institutional Committee, Creation of Food Studies Major/Minor, Fall 2012
Honda Campus All Star Challenge, Dillard Campus Coordinator, Fall 2012
Dillard Faculty Senate, Intercollegiate Athletics, Fall 2011
LSU RAMP Mentor, Fall 2010 – Spring 2013
Dillard University QEP Cohort Team Leader, Fall 2010
Dillard University Honors Program Advisory Council, Fall 2009 – Fall 2011

ORGANIZATIONAL INVOLVEMENT

Museum Hue, Present
Association of African American Museum, Present
Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Present
Caribbean Studies Association, Present
Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora, Present
Michigan State University Black Graduate Student Association, Vice President, Fall 2014 – Spring 2015
National Council for Black Studies, General Member, Fall 2011 – Present
HBCU Faculty Development Network, General Member, Fall 2009 – Spring 2013
Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, General Member
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Fall 2012- Present

HONORS AND AWARDS

Molefi K. Asante Founders Award for Outstanding Graduate Student, 2021
Excellence in Diversity Award: Students Making a Difference Through Artistic Expression, February 2017
Somers Excellence in Teaching Award from the Center of Integrated Studies in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University, April 2016
University at Albany NAACP Malcolm X Award for Innovative Lecturing, April, 2012
United States Presidents Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, 2011